In the 2007 election the harsh and unjust WorkChoices legislation was a big issue. The Liberal Party stripped away all unfair dismissal rights for workers of small employers.

The Liberal Party also stripped away most unfair dismissal rights for workers of large employers. If you were dismissed for “operational reasons” you had no protection against unfair dismissal.

Under WorkChoices workers had their take-home pay slashed and lost their working conditions and their job security.

The Howard Liberal Government was rejected by the Australian voters and John Howard lost his seat in Parliament.

The Labor Government Was elected with a mandate to abolish WorkChoices. It legislated to abolish WorkChoices and replaced it with the Fair Work Act on 1 July 2009.

Liberal Party Resurrects WorkChoices

Now tony abbot wants to bring back WorkChoices and worse

Since he was elected as Liberal Party Leader Tony Abbott has, on more than three occasions, promised to bring back the key elements of WorkChoices – when he was first elected in December 2009, in February 2010 and in his Budget reply on 13 May 2010 and since.

Individual Contracts Slash Your Wages and Conditions

Tony Abbott has promised that if the Liberal Party is elected this year he will bring back statutory individual contracts like AWAs. AWAs were used to slash workers take home pay and strip away working conditions such as penalty rates, public holidays, overtime rates, tea breaks, 17.5% leave loading, rostering protections and other conditions.

This is a direct threat to your take-home pay and your working conditions.

Job Security Gone

Tony Abbott has promised that if the Liberal Party is elected he will strip away all protection from unfair dismissal of workers of small employers.

You can be sure that the Liberal Party will also strip away protection from unfair dismissal for workers of large employers for “operational reasons” once again.

This is a direct threat to your job security.

Hours of Work Slashed

In most circumstances our part time and casual members are entitled to a minimum engagement of three hours each time they go to work. This makes it worthwhile for the time and travel costs they incur. It ensures that they get decent minimum hours of work and a decent amount of pay.

Tony Abbott is promising that if the Liberal Party is elected this year he will legislate to abolish minimum periods of engagement like the three hour minimum. The Union is currently fighting hard against an application by employers in Fair Work Australia on this very issue!

This will strip away your right to a minimum three hours of work and slash your take home pay.

Your employer can call you in for half an hour’s work or one hour’s work. If you do not make yourself available you may be dismissed for “operational reasons” and someone else may be given your job.

Many of our members are university students who depend on their pay from their part time or casual hours of work; many others depend on their part-time or casual hours to support their families.

This is a direct threat to your hours of work and your take-home pay.

Penalty Rates Under Attack

In addition to AWA’s, unfair dismissals and minimum period of engagement the Liberal Party is also attacking penalty rates.

On Monday 15 February deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop attacked the return of “inflexible working conditions” such as weekend penalty rates. If the Liberal Party is elected this year they have already signalled that attacking weekend penalty rates is on their agenda.

This is a direct threat to your weekend penalty rates and your take-home pay.

Conclusion

If you do not want your hours of work slashed, your job security abolished, your take-home pay slashed and your working conditions stripped off you, you will need to consider how you will vote in the Federal election later this year.

We, as part of the union movement, struggled and fought so hard in 2007 to get rid of WorkChoices and the government that forced it on us. Don’t let it be brought back!

Make no mistake; if WorkChoices comes back next year, the chances of getting rid of it again are next to none.

The future is in your hands.

No sooner have the new Awards for retail and fast food come into effect that they are under attack from employer groups, Tony Abbott and the Federal Opposition.

Fair Work Laws

The Rudd Labor Government has delivered on its promise to restore fair laws for Australian workers. One of these promises was the establishment of new fair and simple national modern Awards.

Modern Awards The new modern Awards, which for the first time move towards a nationally consistent safety net for working conditions in retail, fast food and warehousing, took effect from 1 January 2010. Transitional arrangements ensure that for employees not covered by an Enterprise Agreement, changes to rates of pay and certain other conditions are progressively phased-in over a 5 year period commencing from 1 July 2010.

The new modern Awards contain a blend a conditions from different awards which previously operated across the country in each State and covering different types of work, including shop assistants, managers, tradespersons and other forms of work performed in both general and fast food shops.

These Awards are important because they set the minimum standard for our Enterprise Agreements. All new Enterprise Agreements must pass the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT) ensuring that the conditions of any new Agreement leave workers better off overall compared to the relevant modern Award.

Retailers Cherry Pick Conditions

Retail employer organisations have been quick to launch applications in Fair Work Australia to reduce some of the conditions in the modern Awards and to some extent they have been successful. Unfortunately the Tribunal has agreed to the reduction in some penalty rates under the fast food Award. However, the SDA has been successful in increasing the minimum engagement period in this Award to 3 hours.

The employers have gleefully accepted the benefits of the new modern Award (e.g. increases to the spread of hours) and have attacked those conditions which either present an improvement to existing conditions (e.g. increases to Sunday rates) or merely reflect longstanding minimum conditions in NSW (e.g. 3 hour minimum shift engagements).

The Union has strenuously defended these claims which amount to little more than sour grapes.

Defending Minimum Shift Lengths

One of the most significant attacks has been launched by the Australian Retailers Association, the Master Grocers Association and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Together they have made application to Fair Work Australia to reduce the minimum shift engagement for casuals from 3 hours to 2 hours, with Tony Abbott cheering from the sidelines.

This application, made under the cloak of “flexibility” and supported by the politically motivated complaints of a tiny group of disaffected employers and workers in regional Victoria is the radical edge of the Coalition’s and some employer’s ideology – industrial relations through the barrel of a gun. These employers believe and argue that the market should dictate what employers pay and that employees should compete against each other, and against those who are unemployed, for the scraps from the table.

They simply do not believe in a safety net.

Fortunately this does not represent what the majority of employers desire, with most sensible employers distancing themselves from the application and many retail managers privately conceding to the SDA that the application is misfounded and that they themselves oppose minimum shifts which are less than 3 hours.

Witness Evidence

The SDA Newcastle Branch has played a very important role in contesting this radical and retrograde claim. On 7 May 2010, SDA Organiser, Rob Singer, and SDA Delegate, Christine Fawcett, gave evidence before Fair Work Australia in Melbourne, opposing the attempt by retail employer organisations to strip away this important minimum entitlement.

We now await the decision of the Tribunal.

Abbott Imposes his Anti-worker Ideology

Whilst the overwhelming response of retail workers, when asked, has been to oppose this application, Tony Abbott, as Leader of the Opposition, has weighed into the debate and announced his intention to strip away any minimum shift entitlement:

Mr Abbott said, “A Coalition government would remove the requirement that youths be engaged for a minimum number of hours and employers would be obliged to pay them only a minimum rate.” (The Australian, 19 February 2010)

Furthermore, on individual contracts (AWAs), on 16 February 2010 The Age newspaper reports Mr Abbott as saying, “We had a mandate to introduce statutory non-union contracts and we will seek to renew that mandate.”

On the basis of Mr Abbott’s self-confessed ability to gild the lily, it remains to be seen whether these are scripted remarks that we should believe or unscripted remarks which we should not believe.

Either way, the coming Federal Election provides a very stark choice for retail workers.

Do we wish to return to the dark days of WorkChoices during which minimum conditions of employment were stripped away with little or no compensation?

Do we wish to see the reintroduction of the “take it or leave it” AWA with little or no capacity to bargain for a better deal?

Or do we wish to move ahead under the fair work laws established by the Labor Government?

The SDA will once again lead the way in defending our members’ working conditions from the further political and industrial attacks we expect this year.

Newsflash

On 3 June 2010, Fair Work Australia announced its first minimum wages decision. The Tribunal granted a $26 per week increase to all modern award minimum weekly wages. There will be proportionate increases in hourly minimum wages and annual salaries.

This increase was only $1 short of the amount sought by the ACTU on behalf of Union affiliates, including the SDA. It was also a significant rejection of the embarrassing claims made by employer groups which urged increases of $12.50 or even less.

The increase recognises that the cost of living continues to grow, placing pressure on the household budgets of award dependent workers. The economy is performing much better than expected, unemployment is falling and the average weekly ordinary time earnings of the Australian workforce continue to grow strongly. As such, award dependent workers also deserve their fair share of the pie.

This is also a very welcome decision for those workers have not received any wage increase for 21 months as a legacy of the national wage freeze imposed by the Australian Fair Pay Commission last year, in its last decision before the Coalition Government body was abolished.

Employees covered by Enterprise Agreements continue to receive increases as negotiated under those Agreements.

As the Youth Officer for the Branch, I have the privilege of sitting on the National Youth Committee.

Youth Officers from each Branch around the country, meet annually to discuss issues raised by our young members and the issues they face in today’s retail and Fast Food industries.

Each year every Branch’s Youth Officer faces the same key concern; our young members are not raising in-store issues. As the person representing our youth this makes it increasingly difficult to effectively address matters of concern.

These issues often include :

• OH&S

• Bullying and Harassment (both in-store and online)

• Incorrect wages and classifications

• Not receiving payslips

• Not following rostering provisions

• Not receiving proper break entitlements

So if you are one of our valued fast food members, make sure that you ring the Union Office if there is an issue in your store.

If you are unsure whether a situation in your workplace is actually an issue, by all means, ring and speak to Kim, our Information Officer. The SDA is here to help, but we can only assist if we are aware of the issues and they are raised by a union member. Your call is totally confidential.

It is extremely important also, for our Fast Food members to encourage their workmates to join, as the more members we have – the more we can achieve for you and we cannot help if you are not a member.

Unfortunately these sorts of problems are commonly accepted as ‘normal’ within a Fast Food workplace, as there is a culture within the store of people not wanting to speak up or cause a fuss. This doesn’t have to be the case for SDA members who have the full support of their Union.

If your store has a history of;

• people being paid incorrectly;

• injuries not being reported;

• OH&S risks being ignored;

• students working late on school nights;

then please speak up and let us know.

Our Recruiters and Organisers are here for our members, but once again, we cannot act on your behalf if issues are not raised with us.

Many of the issues faced in Fast Food are not issues in our higher membership areas, this is because the staff in those companies are more aware of what we can help with.

So even if you are unsure, please contact the Union Office for more information – it is your right as a Union member and we want to hear from you.

Some Fast Food companies now have Union provisions in their agreement, which means you will be seeing Union Officials more frequently in your store, at crew meetings and orientations – please keep an eye out for us and feel free to come and have a chat as we enjoy questions and feedback from potential young members.

For more information on any of the above mentioned issues or to have memberships packs brought out to your store, please don’t hesitate to contact the Union Office on 49614694.

Don’t suffer in silence! The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association is totally committed to eliminating sexual harassment from our member’s workplaces.

Sexual harassment is unacceptable behaviour and is a breach of the fundamental right of an employee to work in a physically and psychologically safe environment and to be treated fairly and with respect.

Sexual harassment is a serious form of sex discrimination. It is demeaning and threatens and undermines the individual concerned.

The SDA undertakes to treat all complaints seriously and sympathetically, and to deal with them promptly and confidently.

Sexual harassment can create an intimidating, hostile and offensive work environment. Sexual harassment can make you feel threatened; it is demeaning for the person concerned.

The SDA will undertake to ensure that companies investigate in an impartial manner and that the resolution is just and equitable.

The SDA will act to ensure that steps are taken by the employer to prevent further sexual harassment occurring in that employer’s workplace/s.

What is Sexual Harassment?

Sexual harassment is any physical, verbal conduct or visual display which is:

• Of a sexual nature;

• Unwelcome and uninvited; or

• Offensive, humiliating or intimidating.

Sexual harassment is not about occasional compliments and has nothing to do with the mutual attractions of friendship, which are consensual and acceptable to both parties. These are private concerns.

Grounds for sexual harassment can exist whether the harassment was intended or unintended.

Sexual harassment can take many forms:

• Suggestive remarks;

• Sexually explicit conversations;

• Unwelcome jokes in your presence or about you;

• Sexual graffiti;

• Offensive pictures;

• Sexual propositions.

Sexual harassment may also constitute a criminal offence, including:

• Obscene communications (telephone calls, emails, text messages, letters etc);

• Touching a person when the touching is in a sexual nature, this is also sexual assault.

Your Employer’s Duty

Every employer has a legal duty under the Federal Sex Discrimination Act, to protect their employees from sexual harassment.

Your employer must take reasonable practical steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring or they are legally liable.

These steps include issuing a strong sexual harassment policy and grievance procedure which:

• Clearly outlines what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour;

• Express strong disapproval of sexual conduct in the workplace;

• Tells employees what to do if confronted by sexual harassment;

• Explains who to contact with a complaint;

• Explains what they can expect the company to do in response.

The employer must always train all staff and supervisors giving them an understanding of what sexual harassment is, the company policies & procedures and have these available for them in a written form.

What You Can Do

Sexual harassment can be stopped, don’t ignore the problem.

If you feel comfortable, make it clear to the harasser that the behaviour is unacceptable and they should not do it again. Don’t feel guilty and don’t feel flattered, do not be verbally abusive or physically violent.

If you are not comfortable confronting the harasser, if the behaviour is of a criminal nature, or if the behaviour continues, you should contact the Union immediately. You may speak with a male or female Union Official, whichever you prefer.

Make a detailed record of what happened and include:

• (place, date, time and person;

• what was said or done ;

• and whether there were witnesses. - This all may be useful later.

Silence allows the harasser to continue intimidating you. If you don’t say something the harassment will get worse.

You have protection under the law from being victimised or losing your job if you make a complaint regarding sexual harassment. This also applies if you appear as a witness for a co-worker who is making a complaint.

What the SDA Will Do

The Union takes this problem seriously… and offers you support and assistance in endeavouring to resolve the problem in your workplace and through any investigation.

The Union will explain to you, your rights and options in regard to dealing with the problem and will respect your wishes.

Don’t suffer in silence.

Let’s stop sexual harassment.

If you are experiencing sexual harassment, call the union now.

Phone the SDA on (02) 49614694 or e-mail secretary@sdan.org.au

It is still astounding to hear that employees within the Fast Food and Small Fashion outlets are still risking their employment by making some bad decisions and not realising that they can be breaching their company’s policy relating to some of the examples below:

• Applying a discount without a manager’s approval

• Placing stock away to purchase later

• Consuming food without paying for it

• Taking leftover Promotional products that were being thrown away and didn’t get a managers approval

• Taking or consuming stock and paying for it later

• Reducing the price on a item so you can purchase it at a reduced price

• Processing a sale and only charging the customer for 3 of the 5 items

• Wearing an item of clothing off the shop floor that has not been paid for.

Some of the consequences of the above actions are:

• Being counselled/Formally Warned

• Being suspended while and investigation is being conducted

• Being Terminated

• Being referred to the Police so charges can be laid

Your company may also have video footage or even question your fellow team members to prove that you have committed a fraudulent act. Your team mates do not like to get involved or ‘dob in a mate’ so you could be putting them in a very precarious position. It is not worth you jeopardising your job for such a silly choice, some of the reasons we hear are:

• ‘I was going to pay for it later’

• ‘Everyone else does it’

• ‘It was going to be thrown in the bin anyhow’

• ‘I didn’t have time to purchase it in my break’

• ‘Didn’t know about that policy’

Unfortunately no matter what the reason may be, a company’s policy is a company’s policy and if you breach it be prepared for the consequences.

If you’re not sure whether you’re about to do the wrong thing ask a manager. At least if you have asked a manger and they have given you incorrect information, you can argue that you have followed a manager’s direction/instructions.

Please remember if you are being investigated or even perhaps called as a witness, you always have the right to have a Union Representative with you.

For confidential advice and assistance, contact your SDA office to speak to your Organiser on 4961 4694.

As the colder weather approaches and we are all more prone to sneezes, cold and flu’s, you or a family member may become ill and you might need some time off work.

Please keep in mind if you are unwell please do not turn up to work. Number one: you need to stay at home and get better. Number Two: You only spread your germs to all your team mates, it is better for everyone to keep an ill worker at home!

Most agreements have Personal Leave, which combines both sick and carer’s leave. This enables you to have time off work due to your own illness or injury, or to provide care or support to a member of your household.

Almost all agreements nowadays have Personal Leave at an hourly rate so that you can use your leave for ½ day or ¼ day in case you need to leave work early or relieve someone else from their caring duties of a household member.

Part-time employees have their entitlements on a pro-rata basis depending upon the hours that are worked. If you work part-time, check with payroll or management to see how many hours you have accumulated.

Some agreements cover casuals for some unpaid personal leave, check your agreement or phone Kim, our Information Officer, to ask for advice.

Your Responsibility

You must notify the employer, Store Manager/Duty Manager, as soon as possible about your inability to work, along with an estimated time of return to work. A phone call from another household member is adequate, if you are too unwell to make the phone call; just make sure that they get the name of the person they spoke to.

Proof of Illness/Injury

Evidence of an illness or injury can be a doctor’s certificate, but as we all know how hard it is to get an appointment at short notice, a statutory declaration (stat. dec.) will be accepted also. These can be purchased at any newsagency or post office. They are legally binding documents, so only true things may be written on them and your signature must be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace (JP).

Remember any unused personal leave is accrued from year to year, but cannot be paid out when employment is terminated.

In most agreements there is a provision of unpaid leave of up to 12 months in case you need some time to care for a very sick family member. In most cases you need to have used all other avenues of leave e.g. annual, long service and personal.

You still need to provide evidence of the injury/illness to the employer which may be on an ongoing basis.

While on this type of leave, no entitlements to leave are accumulated, however when you return to work you are entitled to similar hours and wage.

Just as a Reminder

If you are going on some kind of leave please contact the Union’s office on 4961 4694 as our staff can advise you on any benefits you may be entitled to as a union member. For example reimbursement of ambulance costs if covered by our free Accident Insurance Scheme.

The Rudd Government has provided a big boost to retirement benefits by proposing a boost to employer contributions from 9% to 12 % of workers’ earnings.

This announcement was made in early May following a major review of Australia’s Taxation system.

At present, an employer must pay a superannuation contribution of 9% of ordinary time earnings for each eligible employee.

This superannuation payment is made into an appropriate superannuation fund – this is the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (or REST) for most SDA members.

The Government wants to change the law to increase the superannuation entitlement gradually to 12% of ordinary time earnings.

The proposed increase to superannuation payments to be made by employers is shown in the table below:

Time______ Proportion of Ordinary Time Earnings

Now___________________9.0%

1 July 2013_____________9.25%

1 July 2014_____________9.5%

1 July 2015_____________10.0%

1 July 2016_____________10.5%

1 July 2017_____________11.0%

1 July 2018_____________11.5%

1 July 2019_____________12.0%

$500 Boost for Low Incomes In a further boost for superannuation, the Government proposes to contribute $500 each year to the superannuation accounts of workers on taxable incomes up to $37,000 per year.

The new benefit will commence from 1 July, 2012.

It applies in addition to the superannuation co-contribution where the Government matches an eligible worker’s contribution to super, dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 each year.

The $500 payment will be made by the Government to the superannuation account of an eligible worker after the worker submits his tax return each year.

Boosting Retirement Incomes

There will in future be 3 major benefits to increase retirement incomes for low income workers:

• The employer contribution rising from 9% to 12%;

• The $500 Government payment for workers earning up to $37,000 per annum; and;

• The existing Co-Contribution Scheme worth up to $1,000 from the Government for eligible workers.

Why is the Government doing all this ?

The answer is that Australia has an ageing population.

More and more people are entering retirement and living longer, while the low birth rate means that fewer people are entering the workforce.

This means the burden of the aged pension will grow while the proportion of workers paying taxes will fall.

Therefore, we need to make alternative arrangements for our retirement – and superannuation is the logical answer.

In the future, the average worker in retirement will be able to drawn on the aged pension and supplement this with his/her superannuation benefit.

It should mean a higher living standard in retirement.

Congratulations to Store Manager Michael O’Brien, Debra Mungoven Store Support and all staff on a very successful opening.

The set up started on 28 April. It was full steam ahead around the clock to be ready for trade at 8am on 20th May 2010.

Michael, the Store Manager, was very proud of the staff’s ability to be ready for trade in just under 3 weeks – it takes a lot of extra hard work, tiresome hours, dedication and team work to make this happen.

Michael believes the store is a significant investment in Cardiff which had little else in the area “except car yards”.

The new look Woolworths supermarket is in a new shopping arcade which also has a Gloria Jeans, Bakers Delight and more specialty shops to come. Woolworths also have a proposal for a Liquor Shop to come soon.

The new store has created 140 new jobs, especially for a lot of local people, a real plus for working families being able to work close to home.

The store has a fresh seafood department, fresh bakehouse, grocery, meat, perishables, deli so for local shoppers it can be a one stop shop with underneath parking available.

Michael O’Brien has lived in the area most of his life, he recalls the old Food for Less store as a child. Being a local shopper in that store which opened on 23 November 1961, he never believed he would be the leader of the brand new Woolworths store in his local area – what an achievement!

As the Organiser for Woolworths Cardiff, I look forward to working with the staff and management of the store.

Bullying and unlawful harassment are not a new development in Australian workplaces. Unfortunately, they have always been a feature of our industrial landscape.

Our relationships with other people, whether in the workplace or not, can have both positive and negative aspects. In the workplace, however, where we have certain duties and responsibilities to each other, bullying and unlawful harassment are unacceptable. Unions, employers and Governments of all persuasions have been committed to removing this unlawful behaviour from our workplaces.

Since 1975 it has been unlawful under discrimination law to harass or discriminate on the basis of certain personal characteristics both inside and outside our workplaces.

In more recent years, in our workplaces, occupational, health and safety and industrial laws now also regulate and proscribe unlawful discrimination and harassment and bullying.

As a consequence of these legislative changes, which reflect both the Union’s and the broader community’s expectations as to what conduct is fair, reasonable and appropriate in the workplace, we are all more aware of this issue and an increasing number of examples are referred to the Union for its assistance.

A horrible example recently referred to the Union was a Store Manager who docked employees’ pay for taking toilet breaks and suggested to them they were worse than his 2 year old son and should wear nappies to work because he believed they were taking an inordinate number of breaks.

This is nothing short of outright abuse and is simply unacceptable behaviour in any modern workplace.

WHAT IS HARASSMENT

It is unlawful for any person to be harassed, discriminated against or treated less favourably on the basis of certain characteristics, including a person’s:

• Age;

• Race;

• Sex;

• Family responsibilities;

• Disability; or

• Pregnancy.

“Unlawful discrimination” includes any acts, omissions or practices that are unlawful under federal legislation including the Age Discrimination Act 2004, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 or the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

WHAT IS BULLYING

Bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Bullying can occur wherever people work together. Under certain conditions, most people are capable of bullying.

Whether it is intended or not, bullying is an occupational health and safety hazard.

A broad range of behaviours can be bullying, and these behaviours can be direct or indirect.

Examples of direct forms of bullying include:

• verbal abuse;

• putting someone down;

• spreading rumours or innuendo about someone;

• interfering with someone’s personal property or work equipment.

A single incident of unreasonable behaviour may have the potential to escalate into bullying and therefore should not be ignored.

As well as creating a risk to health and safety, bullying can impact an organisation through reduced productivity, staff turnover and legal costs.

MAKING POLICIES WORK

Most employers in the retail industry have taken steps to develop comprehensive policies which confirm their commitment to eliminating these types of behaviour. These detail grievance procedures for the employer and employees to follow if such conduct has been alleged and which provide for sanctions, up to and including termination of employment, for any person (including Managers) who behaves in this manner.

These policies are laudable. However, these policies are toothless tigers, which gather dust in the Manager’s office, unless they are supported by:

• Comprehensive training and regular retraining - not just a quick overview of the policies at the employment induction at which time it can be quickly forgotten and lost in the excitement of starting a new job and buried beneath the weight of hours of training on other relevant employment matters e.g. fire drills, filling out tax file number declarations and other policies and procedures;

• A fair and firm commitment to abiding by the policy - not just applying the policy when it suits the employer’s needs;

• Following the grievance procedure by ensuring all complaints are handled quickly, fairly and in accordance with the policy; and

• The application of a fair and reasonable sanction, based on all relevant circumstances, evidence and procedural fairness, where the conduct is proven.

Too often employers fail to take complaints seriously, fail to follow their own grievance procedures and /or then either fail to take action against the perpetrator or refuse to divulge what action has been taken against the perpetrator, thus denying the complainant closure and denying them the ability to determine if the matter has been resolved to their satisfaction. This is unacceptable.

It’s time for us to get serious and be more proactive with respect to unlawful harassment, discrimination and bullying in our workplaces. It’s time to play our role in making our workplaces fairer and better places for all workers.

Q. I have been a member of the Union for 20+ years and I’m looking at retiring. Can I stay on as a Union member?

A. Yes. You will be classed as an Honorary Member, which entitles you to still receive your journal every quarter and enter certain competition puzzles, receive an invitation to the Honorary Member’s Christmas Lunch and most importantly receive a mortality benefit for yourself or your Next of Kin. If you have over 10 years but under 20 years you may still become an Honorary Member for a small charge, this could be as little as a couple of dollars. If you require any further information on this topic please call me.

Q. A family member has passed away, am I entitled to any paid leave?

A. Yes if you are a Full Time or Permanent Part Time employee. This is classified as Compassionate Leave and the benefits you will receive will depend on who has passed away. Please check your Agreement/Award as they all vary. Keep in mind this does not come out of your Annual or Sick Leave entitlements.

Q. If I have a shift for 5 or more hours, am I entitled to any breaks?

A. Yes, the majority of Agreements/Awards allow for a 10-15 minute paid break and a 30-60 minute unpaid break. If you work a longer shift you may be entitled to an extra paid break. Each Agreement/Award is different so please check with your delegate or call for advice.

Q. If someone from my family is sick and I’m rostered on do I get paid to stay at home to care for them?

A. Yes if you are a Full Time or Permanent Part Time employee and have any Sick Leave entitlements. Sick Leave and Carers Leave is usually classified as Personal Leave in most Agreements/Awards but is one and the same. If you are unsure of what Leave entitlements you have, speak with your payroll office.

Q. I’m thinking of resigning, what do I need to do?

A. Casual employees are employed on a day to day basis but if you are a Full Time or Permanent Part Time employee then you must give the appropriate notice that is required by the company so as to ensure that you get any leave entitlements that you may be owed (Annual Leave). Depending on your length of service, you may also be entitled to Long Service Leave. Please check with your delegate, in your Agreement/Award or call myself for the correct amount of notice to give. Be mindful, if you do not give the appropriate notice, the company may with hold some of your entitlements in lieu of the notice period not received.

When the Rudd Labor Government legislated to abolish WorkChoices and to reinstitute fairness into Australian workplaces, many aspects of that legislation came into operation on 1 July 2009, including the reintroduction of unfair dismissal laws which applied to all Australian workplaces. Other aspects commenced operation in 2010. These new laws will progressively reshape the Australian industrial landscape in the coming years, providing workers with a fair and decent safety net with protection from unfair and unlawful conduct at work and providing employers with clear and consistent laws applicable to all private sector businesses across the nation.

A genuine national industrial relations system is close to realisation with both the NSW and Federal Governments announcing their common intent and introducing laws into both Parliaments at the time of writing which, if passed in both jurisdictions, will have the effect of providing the first genuine national industrial relations system. This will be remarkable achievement.

New aspects of the Fair Work Act 2009 which came into operation on 1 January 2010 include:

Modern Awards

During 2008 and 2009, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has continued the enormous task of modernising and consolidating thousands of State and Federal Awards. This monumental endeavour was to be complete by the conclusion of 2009. New modern awards commence operation on and from 1 January 2010.

The new modern awards will apply to employees who are not currently covered by agreements (e.g. certified agreements, collective agreements, enterprise agreements, Australian Workplace Agreements and Individual transitional employment agreements).

Those employees presently covered by State awards, Federal Awards and the Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard will benefit from the coverage of these new awards.

The new awards which shall apply in our industries include:

Through the hard work of the Union, working together with other States and National Office, we have secured a number of significant improvements in these awards compared to existing state based awards. There have, however, naturally been “trade offs” where some conditions have been removed or diminished.

Many existing conditions of employment will change as a consequence of the commencement of the new awards. There will be a five year transition period, which has been implemented by the AIRC, to “smooth” out many of the differences. For weekly rates, casual loadings, penalties and loadings, there will be increases and decreases, as appropriate, each 1 July for the next five years. These changes to weekly rates and other monetary conditions of employment will apply concurrently with national wage increases as determined each year by Fair Work Australia. For example:

A permanent part-time employee working for a fast food establishment currently covered by the Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard (“AFPCS”) does not enjoy the benefit of any penalty rates on evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The new modern Fast Food Industry Award 2010 provides penalties and loadings on these days. Over the course of the next five years, employees will be entitled to these new penalties and loadings progressively.

All new allowances, however, apply with immediate effect from 1 January 2010.

National Employment Standards

In addition to the new modern awards which commenced on 1 January 2010, National Employment Standards (“the NES”) commence operation, which operate in conjunction with the Awards. The NES are minimum standards which cannot be displaced by an award or an agreement. An award or an agreement may enhance these conditions or supplement them, but cannot provide an inferior standard.

The NES is provided in the Fair Work Act 2009 and provides for:

• Maximum weekly hours

• Request for flexible working arrangements

• Parental leave and related entitlements

• Annual leave

• Personal / carer’s leave and compassionate leave

• Community service leave

• Long service leave

• Public holidays

• Notice of termination and redundancy pay

• Fair work information statement

State Referrals

At the time of writing the Union was awaiting the passage of the referral bills currently before both the NSW and Federal Parliaments. If the both bills pass through successfully, all employees in the private sector will be covered by federal workplace laws.

Unfinished Business

Notwithstanding the considerable achievements of the SDA, in conjunction with the broader union movement and the federal labor government, with the passage and commencement of the Fair Work Act 2009, the work of the Union is by no means complete. Much work remains in bedding down the new laws, negotiating and concluding new enterprise agreements in our industries, maintaining and improving the new modern awards, modernising “enterprise awards” and continuing our campaign for the right to arbitration, which is yet to be guaranteed under the new legislation.

All of this hard work will be addressed by the Union with the primary objective in mind of protecting and improving the working conditions of union members working in our industries.